Connecticut home prices — struggling to recover from the last recession — squeezed out a modest, year-over year gain in 2017 but still remain well below the most recent peak a decade a ago, a new report Tuesday shows.

The median sale price of a single-family house — where half the sales are above, half below — inched up 1.6 percent, to $249,900 in 2017, from $246,000, the previous year, according to the report from The Warren Group, which tracks real estate trends in New England.

The annual sale price increase was the second in a row and a bit stronger than the one in 2016 that was less than 1 percent. But the median sale price is still 15 percent behind the most recent peak of $295,000 in 2007.

Statewide sales climbed 5 percent to their highest level since 2006. Sales of single-family houses have registered healthy year-over-year gains since 2015, but price gains have yet to achieve any significant momentum.

Donald L. Klepper-Smith, an economist at DataCore Partners Inc. in Durham, said he does not expect a lot of change in 2018 and affordability could be nicked by rising interest rates, making it more expensive to buy a home.

“2018 is going to look very much like 2017,” Klepper-Smith said.

In 2017, Hartford County did not build on encouraging year-over-year gains in the previous year, with the median price coming in nearly flat, at $217,775. Sales rose 5.2 percent.

Statewide, year-over-year sales rose in all eight counties in 2017, with the biggest jump coming in New London, up 9.5 percent.

The median sale price rose in all but Tolland County, where it was down a little under 1 percent. The strongest increase was registered in Fairfield County, up 5.6 percent, with the weakest in Hartford County.

Connecticut is still suffering from slow job growth, having recovered only about 70 percent of the jobs lost in the last recession. By comparison, the nation has recovered all the lost jobs and doubled the number lost. And Massachusetts has more than tripled the number it lost.

“So much of it has to do with employment and jobs — and good jobs,” Timothy Warren, chief executive of The Warren Group, said.

Experts also say there is a mismatch between the jobs that are available — especially in the manufacturing sector — and the labor pool.

There have been some encouraging signs in recent weeks, however.

The state’s economy showed a burst of strength in the third quarter, outpacing the nation and other New England states. CVS Health Corp. said it will keep Aetna Inc. headquartered in Hartford once it acquires the insurer. And a recent column in Forbes magazine touted the prospects for Pratt & Whitney’s future growth in Connecticut.

Swings in the median price do not necessarily mean all prices or home values are moving in the same direction. Home prices can vary widely from town to town or even neighborhood to neighborhood, and are influenced by property condition and updates to kitchens and bathrooms.

The median price also can be influenced by the mix of houses sold. Higher-priced homes — those at $750,000 or above — can lift the median but have not been selling quickly in recent years.

Even so, the median is considered a good barometer of broad market trends.